This invention relates to a method of producing electrically conductive materials, and has special but not limited application to a method of producing electrically conductive acrylic or acrylic-series fibers, and nylons.
Static electricity is a recognized problem in several art fields, namely electronics, plastics, processing, graphic arts and photo processing. A number of static control products have been introduced which help prevent static discharge from electrostatic sensitive devices. Electrically conductive fibers play an important role in these static control products. U.S. Pat. No. 4,336,028 discloses a method of producing electrically conductive acrylic fibers by reduction of divalent copper ions into monovalent copper ions, then reacting with a sulfur-containing compound to form copper (I) sulfide or copper (II) sulfide. This process required lengthy (1-2 hours) periods of exposure of the fiber to the bath, an undesirable situation.
Other recognized problems have occurred in the use of computer terminals and other video display screens. For instance, the surface of a cathode ray tube (CRT) in computers serves to reflect surrounding glare, but also generates an adjacent static electricity field. The glare problem has been overcome by the addition of a glare filter which is constructed of fine black filaments woven into a nylon screen as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,737. U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,702 discloses a screen which suppresses static electricity along the CRT surface, but only a portion of the yarns are electrically conductive.